Heart Into Words
by The Coolest Guy
Summary: Four years together, a future apart. A letter wrote to erase feelings never to be forgotten. A smile loved but never to be seen again. And a heart broken, ready to be mended. These fears plagued her on the final day of their time together, only to find that she still had time to close the distance between them. AU, High school/University and a ton of canon pairings.
1. Chapter 1

The tip of the fountain pen scratched with verve as it glided over the single sheet of the highest quality of paper as possible. Hundreds of crumpled balls of the same quality of paper lay scattered and discarded around her, each one discarded for a very specific reason.

A single tear fell from her eye, landing on the paper. The ink ran and smudged, and so another piece of paper was discarded with the rest.

Despite the fact her room had three chandeliers hanging off the ceiling, offering gloriously vibrant light, she had opted for a simple candle, hoping its small flickering flame would romanticise the atmosphere and help piece together her current work.

She looked towards her digital alarm clock. 3:18AM. She had missed dinner. She had begun what would possibly be the last attempt for recognition at 7. She had to be up in a few hours, but she also had a lifetime for sleep, she had only one last chance for this.

It was a simple enough idea. Write her feelings onto the paper and discard it. Hopefully the feelings would follow suit and she could begin anew.

She took another piece of paper out and placed it delicately onto the table. It was a simple idea, but the action was impossibly difficult. It had to be perfect, and every time she believe it was complete, more memories and feelings surged through her, showing her just how mundane and inadequate the letter was.

_Naruto-kun_, she began. She had many different attempts at the addressee. Dear Naruto-kun, Dearest Naruto-kun, To Naruto-kun… My Naruto-kun, she found that none of them were substantial enough to address just how important he was to her. So she settled for his name alone, a name that by itself, held the most importance to her.

_I am sure as Sasuke-kun's friend you have seen thousands of letters such as this, and laughed over the futility of them to capture Sasuke-kun's attention. But this letter is not for Sasuke-kun's eyes. This letter is for you, but then again, this letter is not for your eyes either._

_That is not to mean it could not have been yours to read. I blame myself for not being able to deliver it sooner. If only I had had the confidence to give it to you._

_You changed me, Naruto-kun. Your smile, even if it was never directed towards me, it saved me. When I did things wrong, I would cry and give up. I would hide in the corner of the classroom and remain silent. But I remember seeing you, struggling and fighting against all odds, never giving up, never stopping believing in yourself. You inspire me so much it scares me._

_I remember the first words you spoke to me, they may not have been of great importance to you, but to me, they were almost poetry. It was the first time you acknowledged me._

She stopped writing for a moment, a small, graceful smile adorned her features. She lost herself in wonderful memories of the little time she had spent with him.

"_Hey, what's the answer to number six?"_

_You must have been so annoyed with me. I was so nervous and worried I myself had the wrong answer I froze up. I did not want to drag you down with my failures. It has been five years since that day, but I finally am able to give you the answer. Montague and Capulet. It is probably an answer you no longer need, but it gives me peace to be finally able to give them to you._

_You have a truly marvellous ability, Naruto-kun. The ability to brighten even the darkest atmosphere, you made me smile and laugh with such ease._

_And you made me cry once, during that soccer game when you collapsed on the field. I can still hear those ambulance sirens. I cried and prayed for you for days, hoping you would return. And you did, laughing and smiling as your old self. I was so mad that day, the way you laughed off such a horrifying experience. I do not know what happened to you, but I hope you never do that again._

_You have brought on feelings within me that I never imagined myself feeling for a person, certainly not as strong as this. I just wanted to be with you, to stand by your side and hold your hand._

_I suppose I will never have that opportunity now. We will graduate tomorrow, you will walk your path as I will walk mine. We may never see each other again, so once, just once I would like to say something to you. Something that has grown from inspiration, to admiration to something much more._

_I love you._

She placed the pen down, sighing with relief. She gently folded the paper and slipped it into an envelope. Yawning loudly, she looked at the time, she could perhaps salvage a few hours' sleep from the night, quickly slipping into her pyjamas and scurrying into bed.

A new girl would wake up tomorrow. A new Hinata Hyuuga.

* * *

"Hinata! Quickly! We've saved you a seat!" She heard her friend Ino shout as she entered the large hall of the school she had spent the last four years of her life in. Her father had wanted to send her to a private school, as her sister had been attending after her. But she had pleaded with him that she needed to develop socially, and that was best achieved in a public school.

She thanked Ino, quietly before taking a seat, smiling across to her pink haired friend Sakura on the other side of Ino. She was lucky in a sense, when they would start University, she and Ino would be undertaking the same botany course at Konoha University. She felt sorry for her other friend Sakura, who would not be staying with them, instead she had been offered one of ten places in a very prestigious private medical school, in a medicine class taught by Tsunade Senju, a world famous surgeon and the current Hokage for the entire Hi no Kuni.

She looked around at all the senior classmen, chatting away aimlessly with each other or cliques they had established since freshman year. Soon they would all be separating, moving on with their lives and building their futures.

A few audible taps on the microphone on the large centre stage grasped everyone's attention. Their principle, Ebisu-sensei stood behind it, preparing to give his end of year and final speech to the seniors in the assembly hall.

"We've perhaps had one of our best years this year." He began as sternly as he always spoke. "The effort and commitment from you student this year has been phenomenal, and you have been rewarded with some of the best grades in the country. Attendance was a little lower than average, but you can't all be blamed for that. It was mainly due to a certain student who shall remain anonymous that liked to give themselves the Friday off and coax a few other students into the same occasionally."

All the students began to chuckle, the student in question wasn't that anonymous, spiky blond hair and vibrant blue eyes forming in every students' mind.

"I would like to thank the senior students and faculty for dedicating themselves this year, it brings a great sense of pride to see all these young faces going off with high hopes into their next stage of life. I wish you all the very best of luck. And now, please help me welcome your senior class president onto the stage; Sasuke Uchiha."

The screams and squeals of joy and adoration were deafening as the raven haired eighteen year old entered the stage and moved towards the podium, his usual pristine, elegant and indifferent face stared out across the assembly hall as if searching for someone in particular. "You all really wasted your votes when you voted for me." He began bluntly, Hinata almost had to laugh, Sasuke was never the type to gloss over the truth with pleasant words. Truth be told she did not even vote for Sasuke to be Class president, she had voted for… "I only wanted this position because I figured it would look good on my portfolio. I'm not good at, nor do I even enjoy this public speaking stuff. I was running against Naruto, you should have voted for him. He enjoys this stuff, plus he actually likes you all, that's why I made him a position so he would be the one to speak to you all." A small smirk began to grow on his face. "I hated him the most, everything about him annoyed me. I thought the pranks he would play on Iruka-sensei were a nuisance, I thought he was dumb and useless. But I noticed how he refused to give up, that he wouldn't let little things get him down. I noticed how he cared for every single person he met. And like a worm, he manages to wriggle his way into people's hearts. Soon enough, before I knew I would call him my best friend, and like him, I wouldn't give up, I wouldn't get down, and I would come to try and care for the people I met. Basically, because of Naruto, I've come to hate you all a little less during our time together."

With that Sasuke silently vacated the podium, the few claps that circulated around the assembly hall were deafened by the squeals of Sasuke's most greatest fan girls, screaming how cool he was even after he had pretty much told every single person there that he hated them.

"Thank you for that, Sasuke-kun, I guess…" Ebisu spoke as he returned to the podium, gently clapping his hands together slowly. "Now it's time to say goodbye the seniors of this school, when I call your name please rise and collect you graduation documents. Shino Aburame."

Said boy rose and quietly made his way to the stage, shaking Ebisu-sensei's hand, collecting his documents and moved to the background of the stage. "Choji Akimichi." Ebisu called for the student, but no one rose. "Choji? Is he not here?" Ebisu looked around to the teachers, who shook their heads with confusion. "I guess he can collect his later, we haven't got all day…"

"Hey Ino, where is Choji?" Sakura whispered to her blond haired friend in the crowd, applauding occasionally when another seniors name was spoken.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him all day." Ino mused, clapping as her friend did when seniors' names were called. "It's weird because his dad is here… Ha, Choza-san looks like he's about to pop an artery."

"How weird, Choji doesn't really seem like the type to bunk off a day like today…" Sakura wondered, she did not know him well, but as he was a family friend of Ino's family, she knew him well enough from when Ino's family would host parties and barbeques to know what he was like.

"Sakura Haruno." She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard her name being called, she approached the stage, shaking Ebisu-sensei's hand. "Well done Sakura, the best results for a female student and third best in the year is something to be very proud of." He smiled to her as she smiled back.

Inwardly she was disappointed, she was sure of second place. Top marks of the year obviously went to the studious and cool Sasuke Uchiha and she believed she was a shoe in for second best, but out of nowhere, without putting in any effort whatsoever throughout this part of the academic year, she had been out placed by Shikamaru Nara, who stood just one mark behind Sasuke! Ino had always said Shikamaru was smart, and a part of her even mused he still docked his grades just so he could avoid attention by being number 2 in the year.

"Hinata Hyuuga." It was Hinata's turn, she stood up carefully, muttering apologies to everyone she had to squeeze past to get out of the rows of seats.

She, like everyone else who stood on the stage shook Ebisu's hand, accepting her documents with a small bow and moved to stand next to Sakura, in the crowd she could see her father staring back at her, her little sister smiled towards her, and her older brother Neji, who had drove all the way down from his university to attend stood at the back giving her one short nod of acknowledgement.

"Kiba Inuzuka." Ebisu called, but again, as when he had called Choji, the boy did not stand, he looked around the assembly hall, not seeing the boy anywhere.

There was no one to ask for Kiba's location, Sakura had very little contact with him despite being in the same school for four years. He wasn't a family friend of any of her friends, and she had only worked with him once or twice on school projects, but he seemed to hand around with Naruto the majority of his time.

She saw Kiba's mother and older sister in the crowd, his sister looking as if she would kill him the next time she saw him, while his mother looked quite amused by his absence.

"Shikamaru Nara." Ebisu called, surprising Sakura, how long had she been thinking about it? But like the previous two missing people no one came. Ebisu sighed heavily. "I reckon I've got an idea what's going on." He muttered to himself away from the microphone, but the seniors on stage were able to hear his short, quiet ramblings.

Ino looked back towards Shikamaru's parents, if Choji wasn't here, it was no surprise Shikamaru wouldn't turn up either. His father caught her stare and merely shrugged his shoulders lazily, his wife at his side however, the steam of boiling rage could almost be seen emanating from her.

"Sasuke Uchiha." The erupting applause was almost painful to the ears as Sasuke made his way to the stage, he accept his documents with a small nod and moved to stand next to a girl in a state of euphoria at the blessing from God she received by having her last name being the one next to Sasuke's in an alphabetical order.

Ebisu picked up the next set of documents, reading the name with a heavy sigh. "Let me guess… you're not here either… Naruto Uzumaki…"

* * *

"Hey guys, don't you think it was a bad idea to skip today?" Choji spoke from the side of a disposable barbeque currently grilling meat, flipping them over gently from time to time.

"Eh, what's there to miss? Ebisu-sensei will drone on for a bit, Sasuke's fan girls will screech when he goes on stage to give his senior class president speech, Sasuke will tell everyone how much he hates them, we'll shake hands with Ebisu-sensei, collect some documents we'll probably never look at again, say our goodbyes and get on with our lives." Kiba shrugged, pulling his shaggy brown hair backwards into a sleak back style, all the while resting sgainst the side of his massive white Dog, Akamaru. "Though I must ask, Naruto, why didn't you invite Sasuke? Aren't you guys meant to be best buds or something?"

The blond chuckled, plugging his phone into a portable speaker and playing mellow music loudly from the grassy hillside where they had gathered. "It's Friday, I always have Friday off." He scratched the back of his short spiky blonde hair. "Sasuke doesn't get that luxury, the teachers would go ape if Sasuke wasn't at the ceremony. I'll see him tomorrow, y'know!"

"What do you think, Shikamaru?" Choji asked, hoping for a bit more of a sensible answer to his question.

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, rest his head in his hands as he stared upwards towards the clouds. "What's done is done, we've missed it now. I'm trying not to think about it. I just wanna enjoy my last day on Earth, my mom's gonna kill me for missing graduation."

"You're mom won't kill you, Shikamaru, I'll take the full blame!" Naruto grinned, sitting down next to him. "There's another reason I didn't invite Sasuke… You remember how I was four years ago? Everyone hated me and I had no friends, except for you guys. I didn't want to have to spend my last day of school hanging around people who only started speaking to me because I was friends with Sasuke. This, this is a thank you to you guys. Thanks for putting up with me these past four years. Thanks for being my friends."

"And now our little Naruto's grown up!" Kiba gave a sarcastic sniffle, taking a piece of meat off the barbeque and feeding it to Akamaru. "Leaving the nest and going into the big wide world!"

"Yeah, Naruto, it's not like we won't see each other again. Sure we're all going to different colleges and Universities, but we'll see each other during semester breaks and stuff. Me and Shikamaru already have plans for the winter break if you're interested?" Choji questioned, creating a burger with the works for all four of them.

"Sure! I'm in!" Naruto beamed in return, giving them a thumbs up. He laid back against the grass, feeling the summer breeze blow over his face, it was a perfect day, too perfect to be cooked up inside some stuffy building.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura approached the raven haired boy by his locker, who turned to face her. In her hands was a small envelope, she blushed madly as she pushed it towards him. "Please accept this! It has my skype, email address and cell phone number. Please keep in contact with me!"

Said boy looked at the envelope, then to the girl, then back at the envelope. "Thanks." He muttered quietly, taking the envelope from her.

She beamed ecstatically, until she saw him open his locker. Her eye twitched as she saw at least fifty other envelopes just like hers in his locker. He picked them all up and placed them into his bag roughly, trying to clear out his locker on the last day. She paled at the sight of all the other letters, she knew the competition for Sasuke's heart would always be high, but with this many letters, she began to fear he wouldn't actually bother to look at all those letters ever again.

Once it had been emptied, he closed his locker. He gave her one small smirk, and prodding her gently in the middle of her forehead. "See you soon." He spoke, leaving her very shocked before casually walking away, offering one short wave over his shoulder.

Sakura stood so rooted to the spot in a stunned silence that she was almost tackled to the ground when Ino charged her, throwing her arm giddily around her. "Way to go, Sakura! I told you that forehead is so big it grabs everyone's attention! It even grabbed Sasuke-kun's!"

"Shut up Ino, all he did was prod me on the forehead." Sakura muttered out angrily in response, her hand moved to tough the sport on her face where he prodded her, still feeling the warmth from his fingers.

"Yeah but that was without a doubt the closest thing to romantic Sasuke-kun has ever done! You should be proud!" Ino gave her a wink before laughing loudly.

From behind them Hinata smiled towards the back of her pink haired friend. '_So Sakura had prepared something for Sasuke-kun as well…_' She thought towards the envelope in her bag, too afraid to have left it at home. Seeing her friend give Sasuke her envelope filled with hopes of love made Hinata think about offering hers to the boy in her heart as well

And when the boy in her heart came to her mind her smiled faded, she looked down towards the ground. '_Naruto-kun, why did you not come today?_' She thought as she looked out of the window to her side, seeing the sun shining high and brightly, the boy came to mind again, his smile just as big and bright and warm as the star shining in the sky.

'_It would have been nice… to see your smile one last time…'_

* * *

Yo. This is obviously an AU fic and obviously my first one, just decided to write it to building some creative writing mojo while I work on a soon-to-come fic based on Obito and Naruto AU teacher/student fic. Let me know what you thought of the first chapter, worth a 2nd one?


	2. Chapter 2

"I'd say I was surprised you didn't show up on graduation day… but I really wasn't." Sasuke muttered out into the straw of his soda cup. "How bad was Ebisu when you finally went to collect your documents?"

"Meh, seemed like he was screaming for hours!" Naruto grinned back sheepishly before wolfing the last bit of his cheeseburger. "He kept going on and on how it wouldn't fly in the adult world, it's not a habit, y'know. I've never done well in school, and I never will, that's why I never 'applied' myself."

"Then why are you going to University?" Sasuke asked almost interested, going to University cost thousands, it wasn't something you waste years on if you had no interest in doing it.

"The coaching course I'm taking has a lot of practical stuff, and I figured it gets me away from Jiraiya for a while, but not doubt he'll come to visit every weekend if only to check out the college girls… stupid pervert." Naruto grumbled loudly, slurping his own soda. "How was the last day? Lots of teary, heartfelt goodbyes?"

"There were goodbyes. Bunch of people who I'll probably forget their names by the end of next week." Sasuke answered dully, letting out a heavy sigh. "Girls as well, giving me their email and numbers and near begging me to keep in contact with them."

"Oh come on, Sasuke, there must be at one you want to keep in touch with." Naruto asked again, almost laughing at the raven haired teenager.

"Maybe, I don't know, I haven't really looked through them all yet." Sasuke responded, looking away from the blond on the opposite end of the table.

Naruto slurped his drink loudly again to fill the awkward silence that began to stir between the two of them. "So… did Sakura say anything on the last day?"

"Yeah, she'd one of the ones who gave me their contact details." Sasuke answered, before he noticed the unimpressed stare Naruto gave him. "You meant about you? No, not a word beyond asking where you were?"

"Well at least she noticed I was gone…" Naruto sighed loudly. "But I guess I'm not surprised, she had a crush on you for as long as I've known her. Took her like the tenth rejection for her to finally explain that was the reason she kept saying no to dates."

"I knew you liked her as well." Sasuke said back honestly. "I figured if I never bothered speaking to her she'd give up and finally go on a date with you, it would have shut you up whining about her."

"Gotta give her credit though, she never gave up. I asked her if she wanted me to try and set things up with you, but she said no, that she wanted to grasp your attention by herself… We should have had this conversation years ago, Sasuke, maybe then you would have given her a second glance." Naruto grinned cheekily, causing Sasuke to throw his crumpled up cheeseburger wrapper at Naruto's head.

"What about you, Mr Popularity? A lot of people missed you on the last day, I know I did, if you were there I wouldn't have had to give some on-the-fly graduation speech." Sasuke asked with a small smirk of his own.

"Meh, I've already got all the contact stuff for all the people who want to keep in contact with me, plus, unlike you I am on the social networking sites, y'know. If people want to find me, they know where to look." Naruto beamed.

"Hn, not everyone's…" The black haired teenager spoke shrewdly, almost seeming to enjoy Naruto's lack of knowledge on the subject, it was quite ironic really, the blond moron always whined about Sakura not noticing how much he liked her, he never noticed how much the blue haired Hinata liked him.

"What are you talking about, Sasuke?" Naruto's eyes narrowed with a suspicious stare, causing Sasuke to smirk to himself.

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke answered to Naruto's chagrin. Sasuke began picking his litter from their fast food meal up and stood from their table. "Come on, we're done here. I need to get some stuff, Itachi's coming home before him and I go on vacation."

"Yeah, Jiraiya's taking me with him for most of the summer to help out on his promotional tour for his new book. It's gonna be a pain in the ass, but at least he said he'd pay me." Naruto grinned, throwing his own litter in a trashcan as they walked passed it and entered the shopping mall.

* * *

May. They had graduation back in May, it was approaching the end of July now. It was almost too months since she had last seen him.

Or at least, the last time she saw him in person. Truth be told she saw him every day. She saw his beaming smile pointed towards a camera.

She must have stared at his profile for a good ten minutes every day, her mouse poised over a button on the screen.

_**Add Friend**_

She had promised herself that she would let him go on the last day of school, that she would cast aside all her feelings for him and start fresh. So as she sat in front of her computer, staring aimlessly at his profile picture, she questioned why has hasn't been able to do so.

Was it because she didn't see him on the last day, because she wasn't able to achieve the closure of saying goodbye? If that was the case, was she destined to remain like this? Staring at him from afar?

But a part of her heart screamed at her an even more obvious truth. It was because she did not want to let him go. She wanted to stay near him, to continue hoping she may one day grasp his attention.

And hence, she had found herself in her current predicament. The mouse begging to be clicked, to send the electronic request to be friends and thus, she would be able to remain close to him, at least socially.

On one hand, they had gone to school together, so it wouldn't be surprising for everyone to try and stay in contact with each other. She herself had had a few the week following graduation. But two months now? She wanted to click the button, and she wished she had just plucked up the courage and done it months ago. But now, would it be too weird? Would he question why she hadn't done it sooner? She had never mustered the courage to talk to him in person, what right did she have to even call herself his friend electronically?

Would he even accept?

"Hinata, your friends are here!" Hanabi came barging into her room shouting loudly.

"Okay." She sighed dejectedly, logging off her own account and shutting her computer down. Maybe tomorrow she'd finally click that button.

* * *

"I'm just saying I don't think they're that great…" Ino mused out to her pink haired friend as they walked through the shopping mall, both had been working all through the summer and on one of their few days off that they shared, they had decided to meet up one last time before they all went to University. "What do you think, Hinata?"

She turned to the blue haired girl trailing slightly behind them, eyes cast towards the floor in a deep thought. She looked up to meet her blue eye, and a small blush appeared across her face. "S-Sorry Ino, what were you saying?"

"Ugh…" Ino groaned loudly in frustration. "Hinata, it's been almost two months! Don't tell me you're stilling sulking about not getting to see Naruto on the last day?"

The girl blushed even brighter than before, luckily she was saved by Sakura, who decided to put in her two cents. "You can't blame her, Ino. No one's seen or heard from Naruto for a couple of months. Remember Kiba's birthday party? You'd figure Naruto would be there, but he didn't show. Kiba just said he had been travelling all summer." Sakura remembered the party she was surprised to have found herself invited to, she had never really spoken to Kiba, but Ino did, and she assumed her blond haired friend was the reason behind her invitation.

"But still, you told us you were get over it by the last day, which clearly you haven't." Ino huffed out in annoyance. "Listen Hinata, I'm glad we're going to the same university and all, but please don't cramp my style with all the boys when we start with your depressive persona."

"Shut up, Ino. Hinata's obviously got some deep feelings for Naruto, you wouldn't know because you haven't really experienced it, but they don't just fly away because you want them to." Sakura replied angrily, defending the blue haired girl behind her. "Naruto'll be back before you know it, we can probably pull off some party where Hinata can get everything off her chest with him."

"Not likely." They were startled by the male voice who called out to them, they all turned to see Sasuke Uchiha himself standing behind them, wearing a white shirt with a high collar half done up, leaving the top of his chest and a necklace with a fan with the top half of the fan red visible. A black jacket flowing around his waist and held in place with a tight knot and slim fit blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up revealing his plain black sandals better. A pair of large headphones hung around his neck, and his hair was less styled than usual, with bangs dropping to cover his forehead and generally just a messier mop to the usual pristine style he held in school.

"Naruto's in Kumo at the moment, he's not back until the near the end of August, then he's shooting straight off to Univeristy." He added coolly as he approached them. Giving them a small nod before looking towards Hinata. "Sorry, but you won't be able to see the numbskull."

"Eh Sasuke-kun, you know where Naruto's been?" Sakura sounded more surprised than one should have been. "Not even Shikamaru, Kiba or Choji knew where he was, they just knew he went travelling."

"That's because he is travelling." Sasuke replied bluntly. "He is currently in Kumo, the capital city of Kamiwari no Kuni." Suddenly his phone began to vibrate, he took it out, and looked at the caller. "Yeah?" He answered bluntly as he spoke to them. "No I left the store. Look right, I'm not far away. Okay, see ya." He hung up his phone, looking to them once before turning around.

From the short distance the girls saw what could only be described as an older clone of Sasuke, albeit with tear trenches on his face, longer, duller black hair ted into a ponytail and tanner skin.

"There you are Sasuke, you shouldn't wander off. Your big brother gets worried." The man spoke with a small smile as he approached, shocking the girls. This was the infamous, mysterious older brother of Sasuke they had heard about. A blush appeared on all their faces as he smiled at them.

"Itachi, I'm eighteen, not six." Sasuke huffed back in annoyance.

Itachi smiled again, poking his brother in the forehead. "It doesn't matter how old you get, foolish little brother. I will always be there to look after you." He smiled towards the three girls again. "Now who are your friends?"

"I'm Ino Yamanaka!" Ino jumped in immediately, standing so uncomfortably close Itachi took a small step backwards. "And the pink haired one is Sakura Haruno and the white eyed girl is Hinata Hyuuga."

"I see, Hyuuga huh?..." Itachi's eyes focused on Hinata for a few seconds, causing her to shrivel and scoot behind Sakura slightly. Itachi quickly turned back to Sasuke. "Sasuke, is Hinata-san the one that's in love with Naruto?"

"S-S-Sasuke-kun!" A furiously blushing Hinata reprimanded Sasuke, who shrugged back. How many people knew about her crush on Naruto? Would it get back to him?

"Please don't blame Sasuke, yes he told me, but not in those exact words." Itachi offered her a small comforting smile. "From the way it was described it sounded very much like that. My advice, Hinata-san, would be to just tell Naruto how you feel. I know him well, he will give your feelings a chance to be reciprocated if they can. I know it is scary, but the fear of rejection is easier to deal with than the fear of the unknown, yes? Don't waste an opportunity when it is given to you, otherwise you may not get it again."

His words seemed to sink into the blue haired girl, who looked timidly down towards the floor. "Now, which one of you two is my little brother's girlfriend?" Itachi now looked to Ino and Sakura, causing both of them to blush again.

"Neither of them." Sasuke grumbled out in annoyance again, although this time it was accompanied by a small faint blush across his own face. "Now if you're quite finished Itachi, we're done in town, I'd like to go home."

"Very well, Sasuke." Itachi smiled, giving them a small nod. "Until I see you again." With that he and Sasuke began to walk away into the crowds of the mall.

"Well… guess which one inherited the nice gene and the sourpuss gene between them?" Ino mused as they walked away, Itachi was something different to Sasuke, Sasuke always looked angry at everything, and Itachi just seemed to never stop smiling, not as bad as a certain blond boy however.

"Sasuke-kun's not a sourpuss! He's just… reclusive…" Sakura instantly jumped to defend her own crush.

As the two began too bicker, their words faded from Hinata's ears, her mind replaying Itachi's advice towards her.

"_The fear of rejection is easier to deal with than the fear of the unknown."_

Was he correct? Yes, she had often wondered what would happen if she had just confessed her feelings to Naruto. It haunted her, the thought that he might have accepted them, even reciprocated them.

Did she waste all the opportunities given? Could she create her own? She thought back to earlier today, sitting in front of her computer. How much could be developed if she just pressed that darn button? Was there still time to?

* * *

"Okay, Hinata. Bags are in the trunk, you ready to go?" Neji spoke from the back of the car, she gave him a small nod before he moved to sit in the driver's seat. She turned back to her father and younger sister.

"Bye Hinata. Tell me everything that happens when you can." Hanabi smiled sweetly, moving to give her older a sister a hug, which Hinata returned softly.

"I shall. I'll call home when I can." She answered, letting her little sister go, before looking towards her father, who offered her a small smile himself.

"This will be good for you Hinata, you will grow excellently. Do me proud." Her father smiled once more. "And remember. You are a strong, smart, independent young woman. And university is filled with stupid young men, let them know those facts about you and don't do anything stupid."

"I-I won't, father…" Hinata blushed furiously, knowing what her father was suggesting. The thought had never crossed her mind, '_After all, I am still a…_'

It wasn't something she was thinking about, at least, in the sense of with some random person, she wanted something special, someone special… someone specific.

"Good. Feel free to call home whenever you feel, and we will see you during your break." Hiashi spoke again with a smile.

"Yes, I shall see you soon!" She waved to them before setting off towards the car, ready to begin the next stage of her life.

* * *

Hinata had finished preparing her apartment for the year. It was a good idea that she had arrived a week earlier, as her apartment, one that was to be shared with another person was huge, with everything she could possible require, a private en suite bathroom, a large kitchen, separate large rooms.

She was still waiting to meet her roommate, she quietly hoped they were not too weird or loud, after all, she was about to enter a very arduous and studious part of her life, she would need quiet to focus.

She idly sat on her computer, two weeks ago, she had finally mustered up the courage to attempt to bridge the gap of contact with him. Two weeks had passed, and still she was forced to stare at his profile, hoping for the chance of acknowledgement.

_Friend Request Sent_

He didn't seem the type to ignore it, or at least she hoped. She hoped that he hadn't had the chance to see it, that he was too preoccupied and too busy to even look at a social networking site. She wasn't sure what Naruto was doing after school, did he continue with education? Or did he simply move on into a career?

"HELLO ROOMIE!" Her door burst open to her shock, Hinata almost jumped out of her skin at the loud noise.

But the voice, it was far too familiar. '_No… please don't tell me…_' She slowly turned her head, seeing a blonde boy her own age, a large bag thrown over his shoulder and a suitcase at his side. His eyes were squinted towards her.

"Hinata? You're my roommate?" He asked curiously, still gazing towards her.

"N-N-N-N-N-N-Naruto….!?" She panicked, sweat beginning to bead from her forehead, there she was, literally just staring at him on a computer screen, and now he was in front of her, calling her his roommate?

She didn't know who her roommate was going to be, but she was sure all the deities out there were not cruel enough to her to put her in the same domicile as Naruto, to have her live together with him.

It was too much for her, her head began to feel light, her eyes beginning to go blank. Slowly she began to slip out of her chair, dropping to the ground in a thud.

"Wait, this isn't room 306- Hinata! What the hell!?"


End file.
